1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the acquisition of capital equipment and more particularly relates to a method and computer program for the acquisition of capital equipment using web-based purchase pooling.
2. Discussion of the Background
The Internet is considered the preferred marketplace for a variety of products including goods and services. Such products are commonly made available to users using client computers via one or more websites. Aggregate purchasing provides purchasers with leverage against sellers. The buying power of a group of people enables purchasers of the group to maneuver a seller to better terms than a single purchaser, thus providing considerable advantages to the purchasers of the group. For instance, the price point may be substantially lowered using aggregate purchasing.
Although web-based shopping has proliferated tremendously during the past few years, the collaborative acquisition of capital equipment has not been exploited. The purchase of capital equipment is complex and generally requires a detailed and complex request for proposal (“RFP”) from the purchaser to describe the technical specifications of the capital equipment. One or more sellers respond to the RFP with a proposed bid after possibly an extended negotiation. This type of complex purchase is different than existing consumer-based methods known in the art. This is especially true in the area of governmental procurement of capital equipment.
Thus, there does not exist an effective way in the prior art to handle the acquisition of capital equipment.